Adoption Update!

Yesterday in Jake’s email inbox:

Dear Jake Sullivan,

You may come to the Embassy on August 2, 2012 at 2 PM to file your I-600.

Regards,
USCIS Accra

WAHOOEY! This was one of the dates we had requested for the appointment because Jake was already going to be headed to Ghana during that time leading a team trip! He is now re-working his flight schedule accordingly to head out a few days before the rest of the team who are scheduled to depart the U.S. on the 2nd.

After filing the I-600 it can take up to 60 days to receive approval. Our social worker in-country is also simultaneously working on obtaining our girls’ passports. Once we have I-600 approval and our girl’s passports, we can then request the last step of our adoption process – the visa exit interview. Within this last step our girls will receive another medical exam which is done by Embassy approved physicians in Ghana, called the visa medical. Then, the exit interview will be scheduled in which our social worker/power of attorney will attend on our behalf, reviewing all the paperwork/documents with an Embassy official. From there we will be given a visa print date. Start to finish, the visa approval and printing takes an average of 2-6 weeks. After the visas are printed and in hand, we will then make plans to travel to bring our girls home! So, all that to say, once we receive I-600 approval I will consider us in the home stretch! We are getting so close!

Last week our girls were moved to a private foster home closer to the capital – Accra. Logistically this location is much closer to the Embassy, which is a benefit for these last steps since the girls will need to attend a variety of appointments there. We are told that their new foster mom is the daughter of a favorite auntie that has been part of AAI’s Ghana program for quite some time. And her name is Comfort, which is comforting. :) And here is an updated picture of our girls that we received last week once they were moved into their new foster home….

 Oh, take heart sweet ones! I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you (John 14:18).